French official calls on EU watchdog to rethink Brexit stocks ban

FILE PHOTO: A river boat cruises down the River Thames as the sun sets behind the Canary Wharf financial district of London, Britain, December 7, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson/File Photo

April 10, 2019

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The European Union’s markets watchdog should reconsider its ban on trading thousands of shares outside the bloc if there is a no-deal Brexit, a senior French government official said on Wednesday.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) stunned exchanges last month when it said that if Britain leaves the bloc without a deal, 6,200 mostly EU-listed shares, but also 14 UK stocks, could only be traded on platforms inside the bloc.

“The good thing is that ESMA has taken a decision, sometimes you see that in other places it is difficult to have a decision,” said Sebastien Raspiller, head of the financial sector department at France’s finance ministry.

“The bad news is that the decision was not good, so I hope that ESMA would be able to reconsider its position,” Raspiller told the annual meeting of derivatives industry body ISDA in Hong Kong.

(Reporting by Alun John in Hong Kong, writing by Huw Jones in London, Editing by Catherine Evans)